Zone of Proximal Development

• "The zone of proximal development defines functions that have not matured yet, but are in a process of maturing, that will mature tomorrow, that are currently in an embryonic state; these functions could be called the buds of development, the flowers of development, rather than the fruits of development, that is, what is only just maturing"
• Vygotsky among other educational professionals believes the role of education to be to provide children with experiences which are in their ZPD, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning.
• Early-childhood-development researchers commonly believe that young children learn their native language and motor skills generally by being placed in the zone of proximal development.
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• Vygotsky stated that a child follows an adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help or assistance. • Vygotsky’s often-quoted definition of zone of proximal development presents it as：
• The concept of ZPD was originally developed by Vygotsky to argue against the use of academic, knowledge-based tests as a means to gauge students' intelligence. Vygotsky argued that, rather than examining what a student knows to determine intelligence, it is better to examine his or her ability to solve problems independently and his or her ability to solve problems with an adult's help. However, the untimely death of Vygotsky interrupted his thinking about the zone of proximal development and work remained mostly incomplete.
• "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers."
• Although the ideas of Vygotsky's ZPD were originally used strictly for one's ability to solve problems, Tharp and Gallimore point out that it can be used to examine other domains of competence and skills: • cultural zones, • individual zones, • and skill-oriented zones.
英语（师范）4班 龙小雪 潘厉霜
The zone of proximal development (sometimes abbreviated ZPD), is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. It is a concept developed by Soviet psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934).